LPIC-2 Network Client Management Practice Question
A company's file server uses NFS to export /data to clients. An administrator configures an NFS client by running 'mount -t nfs fileserver:/data /mnt/data'. The mount succeeds and the user can read files. However, after a network interruption, the client system becomes unresponsive when a user attempts to access /mnt/data. Which action should the administrator take to prevent this issue in the future?
⚠ Common exam trap
A common mix-up: candidates confuse 'intr' as a valid solution for interrupting hung mounts, but modern kernels have deprecated it, making 'soft' the only reliable way to prevent client unresponsiveness during network failures.
Answer choices
Why each option matters
Answer the question above first, then reveal the full breakdown to understand why each option is right or wrong.
Correct answer & explanation
✓
Add the 'soft' option to the mount command: 'mount -t nfs -o soft fileserver:/data /mnt/data'.
Using a 'soft' mount causes NFS operations to return an error to the calling application after a timeout, rather than hanging indefinitely. This prevents the client system from becoming unresponsive when the NFS server is unreachable, as the kernel will not retry the request forever. The default 'hard' mount (used in the original command) will keep retrying until the server responds, which can block processes and make the system appear frozen.
Answer analysis
Option-by-option breakdown
For each option: why learners choose it and why it is or isn't the right answer here.
- ✗
Add the 'intr' mount option to allow signal interrupts.
Why it's wrong here
'intr' is deprecated and may not help.
- ✓
Add the 'soft' option to the mount command: 'mount -t nfs -o soft fileserver:/data /mnt/data'.
Why this is correct
Soft mounts timeout and fail gracefully.
- ✗
Increase the timeout value with 'timeo=600' and keep the hard mount.
Why it's wrong here
Hard mount still hangs despite longer timeout.
- ✗
Use the 'noac' option to disable attribute caching.
Why it's wrong here
Does not address hang on network interruption.
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Written by Johnson Ajibi, MSc IT Security
Senior Network & Security Engineer · founder of Courseiva
This LPIC-2 practice question is part of Courseiva's free LPI certification practice question bank. Courseiva provides original exam-style practice questions with explanations, topic-based practice, mock exams, readiness tracking, and study analytics to help learners prepare for the LPIC-2 exam.